Battle Scars: 1998 - 1999
by writing karma
Summary: After the fall of Voldemort, the school year at Hogwarts begins again with a new type of darkness tainting the castle.
1. Chapter 1

Part One: Autumn

Chapter 1

"No more'n four to a boat! Everyone in? Right then ー FORWARD!"

Tara Adair couldn't tear her eyes away from the castle looming above them in the starlight. She could hear the awed whispers of the other first years and felt both excitement and a slight panic fight for control in her chest. Emotions swirling as she stumbled out of the boat onto the shore, the young witch barely processed walking up to the [run down] entrance and passing through the doors.

The group came to a stop in front of a rather small man. The giant who had been leading them before seemed to have disappeared.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," the man said, smiling widely. "The start of term feast will begin soon, but first you must be sorted into your Houses, as is tradition. You will become either a Ravenclaw, a Gryffindor, a Hufflepuff, or a Slytherin. These Houses dictate your dormitories and classmates. _All_ of these Houses have produced great witches and wizards and you yourself can both earn and lose points for your House depending on your actions. The House with the most points at the end of the year will win the House Cup, a great honor, I assure you.

"Now, I believe they are ready for us. Please form a line and follow me." The man gestured with his wand and the doors to the Great Hall opened slowly, as though under protest.

The first years filed into the Hall and watched as a stern looking witch placed a shabby pointed hat on a four legged stool. The entire Hall held its breath. Then the hat cleared its throat and began to sing.

"These Houses four have seen many magic folk,

But twas not till the Battle we saw what they valued most.

For no matter if their colors were red, green, blue, or gold,

Their actions spoke louder than any values that are told.

Those Hufflepuffs laid down their lives

For those who could not fight

And Ravenclaws used every trick they knew

To save every last life

Gryffindors charged,

Slytherins barred,

Guarding all the doors.

Both protecting all the young ones

They cared so deeply for.

These Houses four have seen many magic folk

And at the Battle we saw what they valued the most.

For red or green, blue or gold, they all became a blur,

As the love of their fellow man was where their hearts were.

Though my song is short, I think I've made my point

No matter where you're placed, let your hearts be joined.

So come now, children, try me on and I'll see your best.

It is time to take your place within the Hogwarts crest."

A quiet sob pierced the moment of silence after the hat was through. Tara looked around and saw many of the students were crying silently. The small man who led them in had to try a couple times before he managed to speak again.

"Abbott, Sarah."

A girl with long blonde hair stepped out of line and walked up to the stool. The hat took a moment before proclaiming, "RAVENCLAW!" The girl looked pleased and headed over to the cheering table of blue.

"Adair, Tara."

Heart pounding, Tara took her place in front of the school.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Tara made a quick guess that the table with students standing up to cheer was where she was supposed to go and made her way there as fast as she could without running. She hated being the center of attention and felt immense relief when the next student was declared a Slytherin.

The clapping wasn't nearly as loud for this boy, Ren Bachman. The only ones putting any heart into it were the Slytherins themselves. As a matter of fact, most of the red table sat still and a handful of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws followed that lead.

"Bailey, Serenity."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The girl strode over to the Hufflepuff table, grinning, and plopped down next to Tara. The Sorting went on and at last the final student (Timothy Vaughn) was sorted into Gryffindor. Admist the clapping, Tara heard a groan of frustration from an older Hufflepuff. She tried to work out who it was, but then the stern looking witch stepped up to a podium that Tara was sure hadn't been there before.

"I have only one announcement to make before we all begin our meal. Though you are currently divided by House at your tables for the sake of the Sorting," she gestured at the brightly colored banners that hung above the tables, "from this moment onward you are allowed, and encouraged, to mix among yourselves as you wish." The banners disappeared without even a whisper of a spell. "Now I daresay you all are starved, so I will save the rest for later." As the witch turned to take her place with the teachers, piles of food appeared and covered nearly every inch of the long tables.

Tara noted that a couple students switched tables quietly. Timothy Vaughn was joined at his table by a Hufflepuff girl who must have been a sister or a cousin, going by the identical black curls.

By the time the witch once again commanded the school's attention, Tara had learned that she was the Headmistress, Transfiguration teacher, and had fought in the Battle of Hogwarts the year before. Professor McGonagall, it appeared, was becoming something of a legend.

McGonagall cleared her throat and the dishes emptied themselves and a hush fell over the student body. "Thank you. Now a few short notices.

"First years should note that the Forbidden Forest is named so for a reason. With the exception of those being accompanied by a professor on official business, no pupil shall cross into the forest. I expect prefects and our Head Boy and Girl to take part in ensuring this rule is strictly followed.

"Our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has a list of banned items in his office for those who wish to see it," McGonagall's voice held a touch of exasperation. "A general blanket ban remains over Weasley products. Quidditch trials will take place in the second week of term. If you are interested in playing for your House, please contact Madam Hooch by way of a prefect."

McGonagall paused for a long moment. She seemed to be preparing herself. "As all of you should know, Hogwarts was the final stand against Voldemort last year. Because of this, the castle has been...stained with Dark Magic. Though we believe it will fade throughout the year, all students are urged to be cautious when encountering something out of the ordinary. First through fourth years are advised to walk the halls in pairs or groups.

"Now, I believe it is time to retire to our dormitories." The doors to the Great Hall opened slowly once again and prefects began herding the first years out into the hallways.

"Gryffindors this way!"

"Ravenclaws, with me!"

"Slytherins, here!"

"Hufflepuffs, follow us!" Tara looked around wildly for the source of these cries. "First year Hufflepuffs!" It was the curly haired girl who had switched tables. Tara tried not to exactly push her way through the throng, which was pushing her every which way, but still weaved her way through the older, bigger students in order to keep the Hufflepuff prefect in sight. Finally it seemed everyone was going the same way.

"Okay, can everyone hear me?" The prefect called out, still walking. The Hufflepuffs were making their way past what must have been the kitchen, coming from the smells they couldn't quite locate. "Now, there is a pile of some pretty big barrels in the right hand side of this corridor where the wall dips in. The barrel two from the bottom, in the middle of the second row, will open if you tap it to the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff.' Be careful not to tap the wrong one, or get the rhythm wrong. You don't want to end up soaked in vinegar." With that she began tapping, "Hel-ga Huff-le-puff!" The wooden lid swung open and the first years began to disappear into it one by one.

Tara was surprised to find the floor of this hidden passage to be made of dirt. Even more surprising was that it smelled of the earth after a good rain. After walking up the mild slope a ways, Tara was suddenly in a room that gave her a distinct impression of the inside of a bee's nest. She barely had time, however, to take in the sight before she was being given directions to the first year girl's dorm by the prefect, who she learned was called Rivkah Vaughn.

A familiar squeaking got her attention as soon as she entered the room. Smiling in relief, she rushed over to what she assumed was her bed and released her rat from her cage, stroking her to calm her down.

"Why'd you pick a rat?"

Tara turned, startled. She hadn't realized there was a girl sitting on the next bed. "What?"

"Why'd you pick a rat?" The girl repeated. "Most students prefer owls. I know I did."

"I like small, furry things," Tara shrugged. She put the aforementioned small, furry thing back inside the cage the shopkeeper claimed was self cleaning and would never smell of anything but sawdust. "I just couldn't resist Pikachu when I saw her…"

" _What_ did you just call it?"

"Um…" Tara felt her face turn pink and hoped it wasn't too apparent in the dim light. "It's a Muggle name…"

"I know!" The girl said excitedly, "I'm halfblood! My younger brothers are always ranting about Pikachu this or Ratta-something that. So are you a half or a Muggleborn?"

"Well…" Tara wasn't sure how to answer this. "I'm not really either."

The girl, Serenity Bailey, Tara remembered suddenly, scoffed. "There's no way you're a pureblood."

Might as well just get it over with. "My parents are Squibs," she said shortly.

Serenity's eyes bulged. "And the magic resurfaced that fast? Huh. The rest of your family must be pretty powerful. What's your name?"

Tara told her, then busied herself with digging pajamas from her trunk.

"Adair…" Serenity mused. "It's not one of the Sacred 28... but plenty of mixed families still have some strong stuff." She was still hypothesizing when Tara declared she was going to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

The first day of term was a Thursday, Lucian Alexander's least favorite day of the week. Or it was until Professor Slughorn passed out the schedules for the week. Sure, he had History of Magic right off, but then he had electives for a couple hours and a nice break before Transfiguration. All he had to do to get past the worst part of the day was drink a couple cups of coffee, which he did with plenty of cream and sugar. He'd taken to the drink over the summer, to help him stay awake for a couple days in a row. Being dependent on coffee had been better than sleeping.

That reminded him, he needed to see Madam Pomfrey. It was only 8:30, he might just be able to make it to the hospital wing and then up to the third floor… Binns surely wouldn't notice that he was late, anyway.

Gulping down the last of his drink, Lucian sped through the halls and up the stairs to the first floor. He'd only been to this part of the castle once before during the previous year when he'd "accidentally" gotten in the way of someone trying to hex a first year. He'd only been a second year himself but the first year's back had been turned and one thing led to another.

He'd finally made it to the hospital wing. It was oddly crowded. Sorting through the chatter, he picked up on what those closest to the Healer were saying.

"...nightmares..."

"...wake up screaming…"

"Don't think I've slept in a week."

Madam Pomfrey waved them all back and addressed the crowd. "How many of you are here for a potion of dreamless sleep?"

Silence fell and everyone but a tiny girl with freckles raised their hand.

"Okay, then, you first."

"I'm just lost," the girl nearly squeaked. "Someone directed me here and I'm meant to be in Potions."

Madam Pomfrey sniffed disdainfully. "Someone's idea of a joke, I assume."

"They might've thought I needed _a_ potion instead of the lesson," the girl said weakly.

"I doubt it, but you'll need to hurry along and head down to the dungeons for that class." She took a piece of parchment from her desk and scribbled down directions. "Off you get, then." The girl smiled gratefully and took off, parchment in hand. "Okay, so _all_ of you are having nightmares?" There was a general affirmation and Madam Pomfrey sighed. "I take it no one here is a first year, then. All right, come back after your lessons. I'll need at least until four to make enough of this."

Lucian just barely made it through History of Magic. He needed to get a flask for coffee whenever they were allowed to go to Hogsmead. It'd be easier once he had some of that potion, but that class was the definition of lethargic.

Care of Magical Creatures was next. He was looking forward to this. He'd heard it was one of the easiest classes to pass once you stopped the book from trying to bite you. Besides, he liked animals.

"Hey, Lucian! Wait!" Lucian turned and almost laughed at the sight of his best friend running up behind him with his textbook wrapped shut with a belt. "Hey! Where were you at breakfast?" Kamal was careful to hold his book away from his body. "And how the hell did you make your book stop trying to eat you alive?"

"Run a finger down the side… no the spine, not the pages. Oh for fuck's sake, _here_." Lucian easily calmed Kamal's book.

"How'd you know how to do that?"

"Ran into a fifth year in Diagon Alley. He'd just given Florish and Blott's the same tip. They were so happy someone clued them in that they gave him his entire booklist free of charge."

"Must've been after I got mine," Kamal said, unwinding the belt from the book and stuffing it into a pocket in his robes. "So where were you at breakfast?"

"I was there until half eight, not my fault you slept in. Wait, where were you in History of Magic?"

Kamal grimaced. "Had to go to the hospital wing for a potion and got an earful for it. Then she sent me on errands back and forth to the dungeons for supplies all period."

Lucian raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't be a potion for dreamless sleep, would it?"

"Uh, yeah, how'd you know?"

By the time Lucian relayed the story, the two had made it to the lesson and were put to work taking notes on and sketching salamanders. Because they were fire dwelling creatures, the students had to stand around several small campfires. Seeing an issue, Lucian raised his hand once Professor Hagrid had finished with instructions.

"Can we pile our outer robes over there somewhere?" Lucian asked, gesturing away from the fires.

"Don' see why not," the half-giant said casually. Relieved that they'd be less likely to catch fire, the students put their robes and bags away, only keeping what they needed. It wasn't a bad lesson, Kamal remarked to Lucian afterward. But it was a shame they wouldn't be doing hippogriffs this year like the first class for that professor had done.

The two parted ways in the castle corridors and Lucian headed straight to Muggle Studies. Or at least he tried to. The problem was he saw that freckled girl again, looking hopelessly confused.

"Someone give you bad directions again?" Lucian asked, walking up to her. This time he could see she was a Hufflepuff.

"I'm not sure," the girl admitted. "I'm looking for History of Magic. I really need a map."

"You'll get it down," Lucian smiled. "I'm not sure you'd be able to fit everything properly on a map, anyway. Especially not the trick staircases. I think the room you need is down _that_ way. It'll be the one with the ghost teaching."

"Thanks," the girl smiled. "Guess the directions weren't entirely off. So, um, see you around?" She phrased it like a question.

"I'll be around," Lucian said, amused. "See you, Hufflepuff."

Muggle Studies was by far the weirdest class Lucian had taken yet. He'd been absolutely blindsided by the amount of information Professor Lynda McCain had thrown at them. They hadn't used quills, either. In an effort to "get into the spirit of things" they'd used sticks with ink inside of them called pens. He could barely believe half of his life could have been filled with things like electricity and television if his mother had been around. He also wondered why Hogwarts wasn't using pens school-wide. They were easier than quills since you didn't have to bother with the inkwell.

Knowing he had a couple hours, Lucian waited to go down to the Great Hall for lunch until Kamal was supposed to be done with Ancient Runes. He found his friend at the Ravenclaw table across from a spacey looking girl who had to be years ahead of them and sat next to him.

"So where did you all hide from the Carrows?" Kamal was asking the girl.

"The Room of Requirement," the girl said rather dreamily. "It was quite nice in there, too. Rather like a sleepover. Neville got us everything we needed just by asking for it properly. Everything but food, I mean. It's an exception to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration so the room couldn't just make it appear from thin air."

"But you got food from the Hog's Head?" Kamal prodded eagerly. The girl nodded, having taken a bite of food. "I wish we'd been able to hide in there. That year was a nightmare, wasn't it, Lucian?"

Lucian nodded, but busied himself with his plate. He didn't want to think about this.

"Can we see the room? Can you take us there?"

The girl shook her head sadly, early unseating the wand stuck behind her ear. "It won't appear. We tried last night, just to see if it was okay after the Fiendfyre."

" _Fiendfyre?_ " Kamal asked, thunderstruck. "Who would do that?"

"I don't know who it was, exactly. I expect I could ask Ginny, who could ask Harry. But he doesn't like to talk about the Battle much, so you might not get an answer."

"None of us like to talk about it much," Lucian said flatly.

"You were there?" The girl said, mildly interested. "You should have been evacuated."

Kamal and Lucian looked at each other. They'd purposefully hidden during the evacuation because they wanted to take on some of the Death Eaters that gave Slytherin a bad name. When they came out of hiding, however, they'd discovered they were in over their heads. Lucian had even accidently stunned a girl on their side. She'd fallen over a balcony because of it, and they'd heard later she'd been mauled by the werewolf Fenrir Greyback. After that, they hid again until they were sure it was over.

"They missed us," Lucian finally said. Kamal nodded and suddenly became much more interested in his food.

The girl gazed at them for a while and Lucian had the feeling she could read minds. She remained quiet, though, and eventually returned to her lunch.

"Luna!" Another girl, a redhead, came up to the three of them. She looked at the boys briefly but only addressed the Ravenclaw. "We were going to go and try and find _it_ again, did you want to come?"

"The Room of Requirement?"

"Yes, that one," the girl said patiently.

Luna nodded and stood up to follow the redhead. She took a few steps and then turned and waved back over her shoulder at the boys, who returned the gesture weakly.

"Did you realize that was _Luna Lovegood_ when you started talking to her?"

"I wasn't sure," Kamal confessed. "She fit the description, though."

Lucian shook his head. The story of how Harry Potter and friends, including the notoriously strange Luna Lovegood, held off Voldemort's inner circle of Death Eaters long enough for the Order of the Phoenix to arrive was still spoken of. One boy, determined to be the next Rita Skeeter, was rumored to have tried to interview all of them without much luck.

"Wait, so… was that redhead _Ginny Weasley_?"

"Probably best we didn't ask," Kamal said darkly. "I heard her hexes take weeks to recover from."


	3. Chapter 3

" _You cannot fight me…" Lucian was startled from sleep by what sounded like rolling thunder echoing throughout the castle._

" _Your efforts are futile…" He was suddenly in a corridor and a monstrous spider was climbing through a giant hole in the castle wall._

" _You have until midnight…" He was in the Great Hall and hundreds of faces were glaring at him with such hatred he wanted to die right there._

" _You cannot fight me…" Glass shattered somewhere and Lucian watched in horror as his own Stunning Spell hit a Hogwarts student and sent her over a balcony_ _ー_ _right into the claws of Fenrir Greyback._

" _Give me Harry Potter…"_

"AGUAMENTI!"

Lucian sat up so fast the prefect who'd sent a stream of water jetting into his face jumped backwards in shock. Someone was screaming...for a second Lucian thought it was him but then realized he couldn't have made a sound if he wanted to. Looking around wildly, he registered that Kamal and his other bunkmates were standing behind a much older girl, who had lowered her wand.

"Lucian?" The girl asked gently. "Are you awake? Just nod if you can hear me." Lucian nodded slowly, his heart still pounding. "Okay. We're going to take you to the hospital wing. Can you try standing?"

Lucian got out of bed slowly. Then the world went dark.

Tara was just turning to leave the hospital wing when she saw a boy being carried in on a floating stretcher. She recognized him as the Slytherin who had helped her earlier that day… yesterday. What time was it? Shaking off the tired thought, Tara listened in to what was being told to Madame Pomfrey.

"...screaming in his sleep. I had to wake him with an Aguamenti to the face, nothing else was working."

"He came earlier for a dreamless sleep potion, but I had run out," Madam Pomfrey sounded full of regret. "And he's the fifth one to be admitted for this tonight… I'm going to have to ask Professor Slughorn to get his NEWT students to make enough for tomorrow night."

"What do you think is causing it?"

"I'd say he might be having dreams about last year, but he's young enough that he should have evacuated… I suppose we'll have to ask him when he wakes again."

Tara remained unnoticed as the Slytherin boy was placed in a bed and left as another student darkened the wing's doorstep. She had the odd urge to stay, under the guise of watching out for the girl that she had helped into the wing. But another wave of exhaustion hit her and she reluctantly slipped past the wing's newest additions and started the long process of trying to find her dorm once more.

Lucian came to the next morning feeling exhausted. Still, he made an attempt to leave and was stopped by a Ravenclaw seventh year who was aiding Madam Pomfrey. He sent Lucian right back to bed, but was kind enough to send a Slytherin prefect to fetch some textbooks so he wouldn't be too bored while he remained under observation.

Stuck in the hospital wing until lunch, Lucian soon lost interest in reviewing what little he'd learned from the first day back. Homework was a very Ravenclaw thing to use to keep oneself entertained, after all. He nearly shouted with joy when he was allowed to go to the Great Hall and get some food. Kamal was waiting for him, but thankfully didn't question what had happened. He could probably guess, Lucian reasoned. After all, though he hadn't appeared in Lucian's dream, Kamal had been there last year, too.

He made it through Potions without a problem, although he did have to read the directions in the book several times through before committing to them. Slughorn even praised his mediocre-at-best first try at a Shrinking Solution. The Head of Slytherin House obviously knew what had happened.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was what really got Lucian's attention, though.

The classroom door swung open and in walked a desk with a rattling drawer. "Books away, wands out!" A young witch with a load of curly blonde hair strode in behind the desk and slammed the door shut with a wave of her wand.

"All right, you lot are the third year Slytherin and Gryffindors?" At the nods of several students, the witch plowed on. "I am Professor Hirsch, the latest in a long line of Defense teachers. However, I expect I should be able to stay for longer than a single year as Headmistress McGonagall brought in a Curse Breaker to ensure that Voldemort's jinx on the post was, in fact, lifted.

"Now, we're going to be starting off the year with boggarts. If you will all move out of your desks, I'll clear some room." The students moved quickly and their desks stacked themselves against the walls. "Who can tell me what a boggart looks like?"

No one said anything.

"Anyone?"

Kamal raised his hand.

"You, Mister…?"

"Kamal Kaur. No one knows what a boggart _really_ looks like because they take on the shape of whatever you're most afraid of."

"Five points to Slytherin. Did anyone read ahead enough to know the charm to battle a boggart? You, Miss…?"

"Allison Martell. The charm is 'riddikulus.'"

"Five to Gryffindor. Last question, can anyone tell me why it's important to come at a boggart with at least one other person?"

After a long silence, Kamal raised his hand again. At Professor Hirsch's nod he explained, "It will get confused if it tries to terrorize two people at once and usually turn into something laughable, and laughter is what hurts it most."

"Another five to Slytherin," Hirsch smiled. "Now as it happens, I'm a fan of the late Professor Lupin who taught here several years ago. So we're going to take a page out of his book and take on _this_ boggart one by one. As much as it can take until our laughter finishes it off, anyway. So you're going to have to be honest with yourselves about your worst fear, and come up with a way to make it laughable. However, to protect you from each other, as I know how thirteen year olds like to prank one another, I'm going to cast a type of veil so no one but myself and whoever is facing the boggart can see what shape it's taken. Everyone clear? Good. Any volunteers? No? Okay… then, how about _you_?"

Lucian's eyes widened as she unmistakably pointed at him. "Um. Okay…"

"Excellent. Everyone line up behind him, then. What's your name?"

"Lucian Alexander," Lucian replied, trying frantically to think of a way to make his worst fear _funny_.

"Good. Okay then, here we go." She waved her wand once and a sort of glittering fell like an endless waterfall between Lucian and the desk. "Step up, concentrate, and don't forget the magic word." Lucian stepped through the waterfall veil and readied his wand, still desperately hoping for inspiration to strike. _How do you make the voice of Voldemort funny?_

"I'm releasing it...now!" The drawer flew open and a man stepped out of it, but not the man Lucian had been expecting. He was now face to face with the beastly likeness of Fenrir Greyback.

Greyback smiled, and Lucian nearly stumbled backward from the predatory expression. _Okay, new question,_ Lucian thought wildly, _how do you make a werewolf funny?_ Greyback started to howl mockingly and a sudden image popped into his head.

" _Riddikulus!"_

The howl gradually became higher and higher pitched until it was positively squeaky. Then all, at once, Greyback turned into a chihuahua.

"Perfect, Lucian!" Hirsch called out, grinning from ear to ear. "Now trade places with the young lady behind you!"

Lucian turned and tried not to flat out run to the back of the room. He spent the rest of the hour trying to block out images of the girl who had been haunting his dreams.


	4. Chapter 4

That night, around the same time Lucian took his newly acquired potion for dreamless sleep, the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor first years made their way up the steps of the Astronomy tower. Normally they would come up here around midnight, Professor Sinistra assured them, but with the castle acting rather oddly lately she preferred their first lesson to be several hours earlier than usual.

"In two day's time," Professor Sinistra lectured as the students took their first glances at the stars through their telescopes, "There will be a full moon. On that same night, our moon will have a close approach with Jupiter. Three days later, there will be a close approach of our moon and Saturn. On _that_ same night, this coming Wednesday, all Houses from the first few years will gather on the Quidditch pitch to observe a Piscid meteor shower. This will count as that day's lesson so take care not to miss it."

Barely registering this, Tara absently wondered whether star or moon dust would make for a decently complementary element to a wand's traditional core. She'd been fascinated by wandlore ever since she found out she could do magic and was constantly writing down questions she intended to ask on the subject. The trouble was, she hadn't yet heard of anyone who might have answers, short of Mr. Ollivander.

Professor Sinistra continued to talk and allowed her students to observe the stars freely. At the end of the lesson she announced that on Tuesday they would begin work on their star charts and to be at the top of the tower by no later than midnight.

"And don't forget," she said yet again, "Quidditch pitch on Wednesday night at eleven pm, in place of the usual lesson."

The weekend passed without much of an incident, though Tara had somehow gotten Serenity as a new best friend. She was a fairly nice girl, and she talked enough that Tara didn't have to say much of anything. She was just also very...draining. _At least she doesn't have a fear of rats,_ Tara reminded herself several times throughout Saturday and Sunday. _Which means you can carry Pikachu with you without her putting up a fuss._

The biggest thing that bothered Tara about Serenity was her obsession with blood status. Or, as Serenity put it, whether someone was related to You-Know-Who's followers. She was always asking people about their parents and consistently ignored anyone who was pure blood. There weren't _many_ pure bloods left, but the discrimination still seemed unfair. Tara tried to tactfully point out that the war hero Neville Longbottom had been a pureblood, but Serenity dismissed this with a quip about Tara having Squibs for parents and not being able to fully understand how things worked.

That put Tara off talking to Serenity until late Wednesday morning, after History of Magic, but it didn't appear that the other girl noticed anything different.

They parted ways after lunch, Serenity having said something about meeting with a Ravenclaw friend and Tara needing to find the Owlery so she could send a letter back home.

She wandered the halls for ages, wishing she had a map. Or at least a watch. She took a turn, walked a ways, and realized she was in the Charm's corridor. This couldn't be right. She turned to leave when she heard an odd rattling sound coming from inside one of the empty classrooms.

 _It couldn't hurt to check it out,_ Tara reasoned. She was bored of her search, anyway.

Peeking into the classroom, she could see that the rattling was being made by a rather tall cupboard. Maybe a Charm's practice object had acquired a mind of its own?

Lucian was late to Flitwick's. He'd taken too much of his purple potion the night before and had only woken half an hour ago and he'd been moving as fast as he could ever since realizing the time.

He had just passed one of the unused classrooms when he heard the distinct sound of metal hitting stone behind him. He froze. There was a quiet thud and… squeaking? Then, and this made no sense at all, metallic _footsteps?_

He didn't have time for this. He really didn't.

He doubled back and took a step into the room.

There was a giant metal person standing over a student, who was trying to crawl away backwards. The squeaking was them trying to scream…

Lucian drew his wand as quickly as he could and aimed it at a table pushed against the far wall. " _Wingardium leviosa!_ " The table rose a few inches off the ground, then at the third year's direction, flew straight into the suit of armor.

With a sickening _crack_ the table broke in half.

A choppy voice sounded from the armor. "RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOU WILL BE UPGRADED." It took several steps, one hand outstretched.

"Fuck that. _Immobulus!"_

The suit froze in place and Lucian took the opportunity to get the other student to their feet. "C'mon, wand out, we gotta fight this thing."

"Have to run," the girl managed to whisper, still focused on the suit, wide eyed and terrified.

There was a creaking and Lucian realized his charm was wearing off. "No time! What is it? How do we kill it?"

"We _can't_." The girl was surprisingly loud now. "They aren't supposed to exist!"

"Then how…" Lucian was struck by an idea. He turned his wand on the suit. " _Riddikkulus!_ "

 _Crack!_

In an instant, the armor turned into the werewolf. Lucian laughed in relief. It was just a boggart. " _Riddikulus!_ " _Crack!_ It morphed into the tiniest dog Lucian had ever seen. Hurrying, he picked the pup up, and stuffed it in the cupboard. " _Colloportus."_

It was quiet for a long moment. Lucian leaned against the cupboard and looked properly at the girl. Somehow it didn't surprise him that it was the lost Hufflepuff from the other day. "Don't tell me," he tried to smile convincingly, "you were lost and the boggart jumped out at you?"

"That was a boggart?" The girl relaxed just a fraction.

"Yeah. So… you're not so into suits of armor?" _How the hell does she walk around Hogwarts, then?_ Lucian wondered.

"Oh, no no no," the girl shook her head. "That wasn't...well in a way it was a suit of armor. That was a monster from a television show. They're… well they used to be people. But they cut out the emotions and stick themselves in the armor and try to do the same thing to everyone else."

"Oh." That sort of made more sense. "So when it said the stuff about 'upgrade' it meant turn into one of them." Privately, Lucian wondered if no emotions and no physical pain would be so bad.

"Yes. And that's honestly the worst fate I can imagine…" The girl shook her head a couple times, as if shaking off the rest of the lingering fear.

Not quite understanding, Lucian half shrugged and decided to change the subject. "So...am I going to have to keep calling you 'Hufflepuff' every time we run into each other? Because that's bound to get confusing with so many badgers running around."

The girl smiled, "I suppose it would be, wouldn't it? I'm Tara."

"First year?"

"Can you imagine anyone else getting lost as often as I do?"

"Valid point," the boy laughed. "I'm Lucian, third year."

"Nice to officially meet you." Tara hesitated before asking, "Um, is there any way you can tell me where the Owlery is? I'd really rather not wander around until it's time to go to the Quidditch pitch tonight."

Lucian checked his watch. "I can do you one better. I'll take you there."

"I don't want you to miss your class…"

"Who said I have class?"

"You're not saying you don't."

"I'll give you that one. But I've already missed most of my first one because of a sleeping potion, so might as well skive off until Transfiguration."

Tara only hesitated for a second. "Okay, then. Lead the way."

The cupboard rattled as Lucian stepped away from it. "...I'll report that later. Have you had Hirsch yet?"

Tara nodded enthusiastically and started talking about how much Defense interested her but she was proving to be better at Charms. Lucian wasn't sure why but he liked listening to her talk. By the time Lucian had walked her back to the Great Hall, as she claimed she could find her common room from there, they'd made plans to meet up on the pitch for the meteor shower. When he finally joined Kamal at their desk in Transfiguration, he was smiling more than he had thought he would be when he woke up that morning.

That was, until the third year Hufflepuff who sat a row ahead turned and glared at him in the middle of their practice session and asked, "What are you so happy about, Death Eater?"

Lucian's blood froze. Beside him, Kamal's mouth hung open in shock.

"What, too good to answer a mudblood?" The boy sneered. "Figures." He turned back around and it took all Lucian had not to hex him then and there.

Kamal wasn't so restrained, checking that McGonagall wasn't looking, he muttered, " _Rictusempra._ " And hit the Hufflepuff square in the back.

Immediately, he let out a shriek of laughter and almost instantly fell out of his chair. McGonagall swooped down. "That is quite enough!"

When it finally became clear that the boy wasn't acting, nearly five minutes and many tears later, McGonagall drew her wand. " _Finite Incantatem._ " As the boy got his breath back, McGonagall glared around the room. "Who did this?" Silence. After a moment she opened her mouth again, but Kamal stood up before she spoke.

"He called Lucian a Death Eater, so I did it," He spoke slightly too quickly for someone who looked calm.

Lucian could have sworn a look of horror flashed through Professor McGonagall's face before it settled back on stern.

"Five points from Slytherin, Mr. Kaur. Ten points from Hufflepuff _and_ a detention, Mr. Drezner. I'll be speaking to your Head of House, as well. Now, _back to work._ "


End file.
